Top 3 Takeaways From the AI Summit New York 2023

The massive AI Summit New York was recently held. Numerous players within the ecosystem of the evolving AI industry came from across various parts of North America to learn, share, forecast, and collaborate regarding commercial usage of Artificial Intelligence. This Summit has steadily grown in number of attendees and exhibitors for the last several years to now feature at least three times the number of panel discussions and exposition square footage since 2018.

As one of the most widely-discussed areas in business today, commercial uses pertaining to AI are still very much in the early days, bringing a deep sense of discovery, analysis, and piloting that gives way to a near beehive of activity at the conference, whether at the exhibitor booths of the conference or during one-to-one meetings between attendees. Success in the long-term means selecting the right partnerships and obtaining the right insights today.

While some of the knowledge shared on-site is already familiar to those tracking this sector, there are a few valuable new insights, particularly at the intersection of AI and media/entertainment, of which investors should be aware.

Watch for companies with the best blend of prompt applications for storytelling

According to Rajavi Mishra at Amazon AGI, who spoke at the conference, prompts that focus on context, tone/style, and multi-turn conversations are vital for rich, creative stories generated by AI. To date, AI is most successful for creating short-form content, and given the nearly insatiable appetite -- particularly with younger consumers for short-form video -- Mishra noted that there will be even less consumption of longer-form content. However, such a belief negates the human context in which long-form content is desired and viewed, therefore, the safer bet here might be in the evaluation of quality and uniqueness no matter what the storytelling length.

What is undeniable, however, is that the expertise for targeting the appropriate demographic for the content will be critical, and businesses that possess that capability will be the winners. We will also see the rise of even more powerful algorithms that help match content with viewers that rivals even the best of today’s current streaming market.

Watch for entertainment conglomerates that can create the best systems to manage their internal data

One of the biggest challenges that corporations has today seems to be not only harnessing massive amounts of internal data, but also deciding what data to best measure and how best to do conduct the metrics. The current trend is about using AI to organize the data and then use data to organize the AI in a seemingly unending cycle that senior management along with their data executives are nearly consumed. The additional challenge of creating seamless systems to train employees how best to leverage AI in their day-to-day tasks while ensuring adherence to ever-changing legalities, bias issues, and system inaccuracies (“hallucinations”), is another task that will have to be conquered.

Companies that can do this quickly will possess a competitive advantage for the long-term in the market that will be unmatched. Sesh Iyer, BCG X North American Chair & Managing Director, and Senior Partner at BCG explains, “GenAI will unlock the fourth level of productivity. We will see every major persona of work being impacted by GenAI. We’ll also see massive changes in business models to build and then distribute. AI will force companies create new value propositions. From a strategic perspective, organizations that are investing in marketing and content that can respond to consumer needs quickly are going to massively benefit. This is not going to be a few enterprises winning and a few losing. I can’t stress this enough. This will be about wide gaps and companies that far out-pace others by being those who perfect these areas early.”

Watch for stunning startups

The AI space is definitely far from a game owned by the corporations. Indeed, the true test will be if any of them can navigate their own well-entrenched, heavy hierarchies to move fast enough to out-pace nimble startups who may not need to rely on archives of decades-long internal data and instead quickly connect with consumer desires and interests by generating new offerings. Michael Stewart from M12 Microsoft’s Venture Capital Fund whose mission it is to invest in companies to help Microsoft participate even further in future industries typically evaluates investment opportunities by examining the firm’s big three factors: the startup’s concept pertaining to data, tooling/infrastructure, and applications.

If they offer high levels in each of these areas, then the rare greenlight for investment is offered. Stewart adds that there is a marketplace premium on accuracy in AI application. Thus, startups with precision in this area should be highly coveted. Interestingly, Stewart noted that he sees ChatGPT as more of an entertainment entity that will also be integrated into gaming by various startups and an extremely compelling offer for which to watch in the marketplace.

No matter the offering, Nicolas de Bellefonds, Managing Director & Senior Partner at BCG says, “One thing is certain: The worst place to be is in the middle. If you don’t have the corporate size to drive large scale and you don’t have the nimbleness and agility of a startup, the middle is a very, very dangerous place. No one wins in that space, ever.”

Additional narratives to note

There were also several discussions around DEI as it pertain to ethics, biases, investors, and founders. As noted during a panel that Mike Johnson, Global Innovation Lead, Creative Artists Agency (CAA) moderated, technology creates leverage and over time, that leverage compounds so it is absolutely critical to have teams that have diverse perspectives in AI decision-making in order to profit in this sector. This is particularly important because AI will offer deeper personalization of media and entertainment options than ever before, and this capability will only be truly successful with human a variety of life experiences on the company team.

Finally, watch for unique applications regarding voice data and AI. Companies with applications that deliver impeccable transcription capabilities, video editing from transcription, AI-driven speech tech is going to, according to Zohar Dayan SVP of Product at Vimeo, are going to help re-imagine the definition of both creativity and originality as we know it today. Over the next twelve months we will see the entrance of more custom models around AI and voice which will include nearly real-time translation creating powerful new business opportunities within the media/entertainment space.

However, with all the possibilities come the potential for errors, confusion, unauthorized clones, and more. Many consistently ask about guardrails to which there is are industry-wide answers for such questions at the moment. Companies that figure out such solutions just may actually become the most valuable yet in this powerful new sector.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

Other Topics

Technology Innovation